The question for the holidays is: Should I buy my child the Ipod, cell phone or computer? From personal experience 0-2 yrs should just be safety first and reasearch when purchasing an electronic for that age. Cordination is still being learned through these ages. 3-5 yrs is developmental stages. Seems like they are making things electronic to attract these ages more and more every day. We bought our daughter a Leap Frog. It is very easy to use, the games are learning tools. They are having fun while learning. And the games are least inexpensive, you can even find them at Wal-mart. There are a wide variety of levels from colors, to alphabet, to counting, memory and etc... Ages 6-8 yrs is a structural age, they are showing alot of independent decision making at these ages. Yet still learning should be the key funadmental to choicing the appropriate electronic. Even though we all want to start a very smart little one out on the computer, it can become aggrevating or even frustrating for children under 6. 6 yrs is a great age to introduce your child to computers, not that you should go out and buy one right away, but even an older computer would be fine, if only to be used by the child. There are games you can purchase online, stores and so forth. Learning games should always be the key for this age too. They have a variety of games for learning for 1st - 2nd grade for the computer that are very educational, such as math, writting, sounds, identifying, and so forth. Now 3rd-5th grade usually ages 9-11 is a good age to start with other types of electronics, such as the Ipods, Xbox's, and so forth, and as the age goes up so do the prices of games or learning tools. Please be sure to check before purchasing a game that it is age appropriate, even though it might be cool, or everyone has one, doesnt mean its right for your child. 12-13 yrs of age the beginning of what I call the "monster years".....ha.............joking, we all know they are still the sweet little angels. This is a good age for cell phones, even the pay for the minutes as you go phones are the best, exspecially since all of a sudden they need to go somewhere all the time. I would suggest a cell phone where you pay for the minutes pre-paid, just to teach your child the responsibility of having a bill, before you put them on your plan. Text messaging can be costly as well. Let them know that should be used as their time on the computer for chatting. But at the same time you have the comfort of knowing they can reach you at any time. Same with ages 14-15. Now for 16 year olds and up, is a great time for them to learn to be responsible. Maybe working part time or doing things around the house to earn money, have them save half of their earnings to help purchase those expensive electronical gadgets, so they will take better care of them and learn the beginning of being a responsible adult, but remember, they are still kids to an extent, so the other half of their earnings should be for their choice. That way there is responsibility for earning, and a small portion of insant gratification. I hope this has helped. But remember, technology is always coming out with something new and more expensive, but it doesnt always have to be the latter to gain knowledge or to still be grattifide.